This invention relates to a ball-and-socket joint for the waterproof assembly of two pipe elements, of the type where the male end of a first pipe element has a spherical saddle designed to be inserted and pivot in a specially designed housing with a spherical profile or socket of a second pipe element, with the interposition of a waterproof elastomer ring gasket that is set in a ring groove hollowed in the internal surface of the socket.
Such a ball-and-socket joint is used for the assembly of pipe elements, notably made of ductile cast-iron, that are used in the construction of water purification pipe installations.
It is of value when it is necessary to link two pipe elements that present an angular deviation notably for the junction of two pipe elements with different axes or even, for example, to adjust the angle of a branch chamber's exit pipe to a pipe section that links said exit pipe to a main collector located deeper in the ground. The ball-and-socket joint therefore allows the rectification of the angular deviations of the pipe elements to be linked.
Such junctions must not only be waterproof but also must be resistant to movement in order to avoid the dislocation of the joint. This risk is particularly important when the pipes are subjected to the internal pressure of the fluid being transported, or even when they are buried in soft ground, or in ground that supports heavy vehicle traffic.
The known solutions that remedy to this dislocation phenomena of the spherical ball-and-socket joint are complex and costly because they rely on added locking means, of a coupler or of a nut type of which one extremity is attached to the socket and the other extremity rests on the spherical saddle of the male end in order to prohibit any dislocation.